Tuesday Daily Puck: Hot 'Hawk

Monday night was a banner night to be a Rangers fan, if not necessarily one of those in attendance at Madison Square Garden. The Blueshirts, down 2-0 early against Phoenix, stormed back to tie the game, then did it again after a fluky goal put them behind, and ended up winning in overtime. A great game to watch from home. But the crowd at Madison Square Garden seemed to barely get into it except when the Rangers scored their goals; I didn't notice a proper "Let's Go Rangers" chant until the third period.

As someone who doesn't have a money tree to pay for hockey tickets at the World's Most Expensive Arena, I take umbrage on behalf of the everyday Rangers fan who's left with the Sophie's choice of buying cheap seats with an obstructed view or awesome seats that cost half a paycheck. If you've got enough money to afford season tickets, I congratulate you. Now stop sipping at that beer and go cheer for your team.

Anyway, that's a lot of talk about real hockey, and I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a website about fantasy hockey. But after my team just got eliminated in the playoffs in the RotoWire Staff Keeper League thanks to commish Bret Cohen's otherworldly weekly point total exceeding my team's merely awesome total well, baseball season's coming soon, right?

Montreal CanadiensLars Eller, LW (lower body)  Wasn't in the lineup MondayTravis Moen, LW (head)  Had to be helped from the ice MondayJosh Gorges, D (hand)  Out another two weeksBrandon Prust, LW (upper body)  Out the rest of the year

San Jose SharksRaffi Torres, LW (soreness)  Sat again Saturday and MondayTomas Hertl, C (knee)  Still not close to skating at full speedLogan Couture, C (foot)  Left Monday's game; "not serious," but possibly out Tuesday

Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS  Not necessarily known as a prolific goal scorer, Bergeron's found twine in four consecutive games now, including notching Boston's only tally in Monday's shootout loss to the Habs. The tally gave him 23 on the year  the most he's scored since he took the league by storm with an incredible 31-goal rookie campaign back in 2005-06. And then there's that plus-36 rating.

Steven Stamkos, C, TB  He's baaack. Stamkos scored the game-tying goal in the third period Monday night against Ottawa  his seventh goal to go with three assists in his last seven games. He needed a couple weeks to find his groove again, but now he's really back and it looks like he never left.

Corey Crawford, G, CHI  Though he's coming off a loss in which he had an unsavory save percentage, Crawford still let in two or fewer goals for the third consecutive game and hasn't given up more than three goals in a start in two full months, dating back to Jan. 22. Not a lot of goalies can say that. Crawford's also 6-3-0 with a 1.57 GAA and .934 save mark in the month of March, and he posted similarly spectacular numbers in February. That's gettin' it done.

Cold

Olli Maatta, D, PIT  Maatta picked a very bad time to see his play fall off, but as he's 70 games into his first professional season, it can't be considered a huge surprise. He only played 78 games  playoffs included  with OHL London last season, and obviously games in juniors aren't quite as taxing as those at the highest level of hockey. The Finnish rookie's been held off the scoresheet in seven straight games, during which he's gone minus-3 and put just eight shots on goal. All in all, it's a far cry from what he was doing early in the year. Maatta's ice time was cut all the way to 16:31 against the Blues on Sunday, and it bears close monitoring going forward.

Cody Hodgson, C, BUF  Switching to wing didn't get him going; switching back to center hasn't helped either. Hodgson has two sad little assists to show for his last nine games; he hasn't scored a goal since March 6, and with just 36 points in 61 games to go with a minus-24 rating, he's been a pretty well-rounded fantasy bum this year after last season's solid showing (34 points in 48 games and just a minus-4) gave owners hope that he'd take a step forward in his age-23 (he turned 24 last month) season.

Mike Richards, C, LA  If facing his old mates in Philadelphia on Monday wasn't enough to get Richards going, I don't know what is. He went scoreless in that contest for the seventh time in his last eight games, and he continues to make the Flyers look like geniuses for trading him after the 2011 season. A two-time 30-goal scorer and four-time 60-point man (including 80 points in 2008-09), Richards has only scored 30 goals combined in his three seasons with Los Angeles. This despite the facts that he's largely been healthy in the regular season and that he's still just 29 years old.

Recommended PickupTeuvo Teravainen, LW, CHI  Teravainen is making his NHL debut on Tuesday night, which makes now a great time to snatch the kid up for the stretch run in fantasy. He'll probably be on the third line Tuesday, but could certainly find his way onto the second line, especially if the 'Hawks like him at center. Patrick Kane is hurt, so they're looking for answers on offense, and Teravainen's a superbly talented playmaker who dished out 35 assists and totaled 44 points in 49 games this year playing pro hockey in his native Finland. Still just 19 years old, he may not make a seamless transition to North America, but those in keeper leagues should take note of his Henrik Sedin-like fantasy profile.